Florence A. Molinder, 87, passed away early in the morning on Wednesday, September 21, 2016, after a heroic battle with cancer. She was born February 17, 1929, in Carlisle, Ark., youngest child of Benjamin Frederick Smith and Mabel (Cauffman) Smith.
She graduated from Rolling Prairie High School, LaPorte County, in 1946 and received a bachelors degree from Taylor University and masters in Physical Education and Health from Indiana University. She began teaching in 1950, Valparaiso High School, Porter County, where she met our father, Walter Andrew Molinder, and married him on June 8, 1958, in Rolling Prairie, Ind.
Florence retired in 1989 as a physical education teacher after 35 years teaching in Greenfield and at Valparaiso High School, Porter County. She was the first Greenfield Central High School girls’ volleyball and track coach under IHSAA sanction and was appointed the first Girls Athletic Director for GCHS in 1974 and served until retirement. She directed the Girls Athletic Association (GAA) and served as past president of the Indiana League of HSGAA. She and her husband Walt Molinder were in the first class of inductees in the GCHS Hall of Fame.
A life long member of the Methodist Church, she participated actively in Bradley Methodist where she served as past president of United Methodist Women, conference delegate, lay leader, and on many commissions. She was also past president of Hancock Retired Teachers Association, a member of RVICS, a national Christian mission organization, as well as a member of Delta Theta Tau and ADK. She served on the board of directors for the Hancock County Boys and Girls Club.
She is survived by her children, Cary and Carrie (Corwin) Molinder of Terre Haute and their children, Brittany, Aaron, and Hannah, Mathew and Patricia (Arbuckle) Molinder of Greenfield and their four children, Anna (Zack) Waggoner, Brett and Katie (Armour) Molinder, Chad and Katie (Waltrep) Molinder, and Danessa (Billy) Castrodale; Teresa Molinder and Mark Hogue of Greenfield and their son Christian and Lindy (Thackston) Hogue. Florence was also blessed with great-grandchildren: Emma and Sophia Waggoner, Mathew and William Molinder, and Lachlan Hogue.
She was proceeded in death by her husband, Walter Molinder; and son, Christopher Randall; her parents and five brothers, Edgar Guest, Dale Cauffman, Curtis Leroy, Forest William, and Richard Benjamin Smith.
Visitation will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, September 25, at Stillinger Family Funeral Home, Pasco Chapel of Greenfield, 1780 West Main St., Greenfield, IN 46140. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, September 26, at Bradley Methodist Church, 210 West Main St., Greenfield, IN 46140. Burial will immediately follow the service at Park Cemetery in Greenfield, 621 South State St., Greenfield, IN 46140.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Bradley Methodist Church, Retired Teachers, or the Boys and Girls Club of Hancock County.
Friends may share memories with Florence’s family by visiting stillingerfamily.com.
